Bricks vs Shortcut

Bricks is a web-based AI data analyst that turns imported data into dashboards and reports. It can generate charts, KPIs, insights, and tables, while its spreadsheet tools assist with calculations, lookups, data cleaning, formatting, visualization, and analysis through natural-language requests. Users can modify dashboards with AI prompts or manual controls, then share them by link, present them in Bricks, or export them. Uploads can include CSV, XLSX, PDF, and PNG files; Bricks can also import data from Google Sheets or databases. The product is aimed at small to medium-sized everyday datasets, including spreadsheet, CRM, sales, marketing, financial, survey, and operational data. The free plan includes 20 AI messages per month and supports up to 3 people. Premium costs $25 per user per month, or $17.50 per user per month with annual billing; it supports up to 200 people. Pro costs $100 per user per month, or $70 per user per month with annual billing, and includes unlimited AI messages and up to 10 team members. When the monthly AI message limit is reached, AI features pause until reset or upgrade, while manual editing remains available.

Shortcut is an AI spreadsheet agent for analyzing, automating, and enhancing Excel spreadsheets and financial models. It can generate formulas, transform tables, analyze spreadsheet contents, and automate workflows. Its formula-driven edits are formatted for professional use and placed without overwriting existing data. Shortcut identifies changed cells and explains hard-coded values; users can undo, revert, or restore edits. It can open and export Excel files while preserving formatting, formulas, and features. The Free plan includes Excel and Google Sheets plugins, and the product also offers a Platform API. Supported platforms are API, extension, web, and Windows, with Microsoft Excel as the primary platform. The free plan costs nothing and includes 20 free weekly credits. Pro is $100 a month billed annually, with 1,000 monthly plan credits; Teams is $320 a month billed annually, with 1,000 monthly team credits. Enterprise pricing is available on request. Shortcut states that it is SOC 2 Type II compliant and uses AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. Free-tier data may be used for AI training; Pro, Teams, and Enterprise data is excluded.